The conclusion of another year marks the loss of the latest batch of landmarked buildings and longstanding, lived-in real estate in the New York City area. Some owners caved to the pressures of widespread redevelopment — and others found their properties literally caving. Read on for a look back at some of the sites that have disappeared — or are set to vanish. [more]

From the December issue:In our monthly roundup of real estate news from across the country, The Real Deal looks at the priciest Minneapolis office building sale since 2007, a San Francisco building that will soon be the tallest on the West Coast and the $29.9 million sales of Los Angeles’s famed El Royale apartment building. The market report also has details on a Frank Lloyd Wright–designed house that dodged demolition, the $74.75 million sale of a Las Vegas apartment complex and a listing from pop-star Usher. Click here to read the entire report.

The owners of a Phoenix, Ariz. home designed by Frank Lloyd Wright are in quite a hurry to sell, but not because they need the cash. John Hoffman and Steve Sells need to sell their home because it is about to be landmarked.

The New York Times reported that buyers thought they got a deal on the four-bedroom home when they bought it for $1.8 million in June. Now, the owners, who are asking $2.38 million for the 1952 home, are convinced that the landmarking will mean their investment is null, the Times said. [more]

A massive collection of Frank Lloyd Wright artifacts is moving permanently to New York City. Approximately 23,000 architectural drawings, 40 large-scale models, 44,000 photographs, 600 manuscripts and nearly a third of a million pieces of correspondence by the famed architect were acquired by the Museum of Modern Art and Columbia Unviersity’s Avery Architectural & Fine Arts Library, the New York Times reported. [more]

A home in East Hampton, one of the country’s Top 10 Weird but Wonderful Homes

A three-bedroom, two-bathroom home in East Hampton home, the country’s first example of “reversible destiny architecture,” has been named one of the country’s Top 10 Weird but Wonderful Homes, by TopTenRealEstateDeals.com. The $4 million, 3,700-square-foot house — which was built as an extension to a 1964 home based on principles of Frank Lloyd Wright’s architecture — was designed by architects Arakawa and Madeline Gins, whose philosophy is “to disorient the occupants while at the same time keep them challenged and alert for a long life,” according to Newsday. “This great dwelling is a synthesis of architecture, philosophy, art and science,” said listing agent Ursula Reimann of Sotheby’s International Realty. Other weird homes on the list included a coral castle in Florida, a quasi-museum in Nevada, a foam home in Minnesota and an Earthship home in New Mexico. [Newsday] … [more]

Here’s your daily dose of blasphemy: as someone who has never greatly loved the architecture of the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museumat 1071 Fifth Avenue at 89th Street, I must say that its new restaurant, the Wright, located across from the rotunda at 88th Street and designed by Andre Kikoski, is easily the best part of the building.

Unquestionably, the Guggenheim was unprecedented in its day and it served its function admirably as an instant landmark. But it was, and remains, hell to inhabit and, despite Frank Lloyd Wright’s insistent talk about organic forms, the place he designed has always felt cold, bullying and even a little shoddy in its workmanship.

So it was an unexpected pleasure recently to visit the new eatery and find that, even as it pays elaborate homage to the famous architect, it somehow manages to recreate the Guggenheim’s formal vocabulary with greater skill and feeling than it had the first time around, 50 years ago. … [more]